Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Virtual Help! Good or Bad?
Times are hard and might i add, scarce. Everybody is saving his/her time, prioritizing and ensuring the most important stuff gets done first. But hey, won't it be nice if your company includes in your employee benefits a concierge service who would help you get things done? That will be nice.
From experience, i know that we usually do not have enough time to do anything, and eventually there is an imbalance between work life and personal life. You end up spending your lunch hour taking your car to the mechanics or even calling in sick when in truth, you are going around Lagos searching for a good school for your child.
Concierge services is growing as a popular employee benefit and companies that offer concierge services to their employees experience higher employee morale, a higher productivity rate, and higher employee retention. But what will the concierge do for you as an executive you may ask? Think about a normal day for you, a normal day would be a day where you have other personal responsibilities to perform which may not wait for the weekend, repairs to be done in your home and nobody to sit with the handyman, getting a gift for someone and you cannot spare the time to do it or getting your car to the auto shop for servicing...the list is endless.
The rippling effect for companies who pay for concierge services as part of staff benefits is employee retention, its like the airlines who offer reduced/staff tickets for staff, their family and friends, the staff stay in the company much longer because the tickets save them money which they would have to squeeze out in order to pay for full travel tickets.
I know and i have heard it before, the mention of the word concierge conjures up the image of 'nouveau riche', as in the service can only be afforded by the uber wealthy individuals who reside in Ikoyi, VI, VGC, Lekki and environs, or Mega companies with roots abroad. Well, may i add that the face of concierge is changing. Truly, there are concierge companies who are dedicated to the Super Rich but still you can find other concierge companies that will fit your budget and a company does not have to be one of the Fortune 500 to provide concierge services to its employee. By the end of this, you will find a list of Concierges and what you can get from them.
Let me end this blog today by saying, there is nothing too much or hard to ask a concierge, if it is within their offering, you will get what you are looking for, this is because, assistance is the main focus of a concierge service and a good concierge service will always be on call and infact 24/7 for your company/organization.
Services you can get from the Concierge are:
PERSONAL SERVICES:
Below are a few of Concierge services based in Nigeria and services they offer with links to their websites or contacts.
AntsHill Concierge: www.antshillconcierge.com
Services Offered: Lifestyle Management, Personal and Corporate Concierge.
Errand Concierge: www.errandconcierge.com
Services Offered: Personal and Corporate Concierge.
Teleo Messengers Limited: www.teleomessengers.com
Services Offered: Personal Concierge and Property Management.
XL Management Services: www.xlmanagementservices.com
Services Offered: Travel and Tours.
Quintessentially: www.quintessentially.com
Services offered: Lifestyle Management and Personal Concierge
BIL Concierge: www.bilconcierge.com Services offered: Personal and Corporate Concierge
Paula Black: http://paulablackdomestichelp.com
Services offered: Personal Household Staff
From experience, i know that we usually do not have enough time to do anything, and eventually there is an imbalance between work life and personal life. You end up spending your lunch hour taking your car to the mechanics or even calling in sick when in truth, you are going around Lagos searching for a good school for your child.
Concierge services is growing as a popular employee benefit and companies that offer concierge services to their employees experience higher employee morale, a higher productivity rate, and higher employee retention. But what will the concierge do for you as an executive you may ask? Think about a normal day for you, a normal day would be a day where you have other personal responsibilities to perform which may not wait for the weekend, repairs to be done in your home and nobody to sit with the handyman, getting a gift for someone and you cannot spare the time to do it or getting your car to the auto shop for servicing...the list is endless.
The rippling effect for companies who pay for concierge services as part of staff benefits is employee retention, its like the airlines who offer reduced/staff tickets for staff, their family and friends, the staff stay in the company much longer because the tickets save them money which they would have to squeeze out in order to pay for full travel tickets.
I know and i have heard it before, the mention of the word concierge conjures up the image of 'nouveau riche', as in the service can only be afforded by the uber wealthy individuals who reside in Ikoyi, VI, VGC, Lekki and environs, or Mega companies with roots abroad. Well, may i add that the face of concierge is changing. Truly, there are concierge companies who are dedicated to the Super Rich but still you can find other concierge companies that will fit your budget and a company does not have to be one of the Fortune 500 to provide concierge services to its employee. By the end of this, you will find a list of Concierges and what you can get from them.
Services you can get from the Concierge are:
PERSONAL SERVICES:
- Grocery Shopping
- Food Preparations
- Appointment Reminders
- Interior Decorating Services
- Landscaping and Gardening Services
- Housecleaning
- Messenger & Courier Services
- Relocation Services
- Automotive Services
- Car Servicing
- Dry Cleaning & Laundry
- Spa Recommendations and Reservations
- Transportation, Taxi and Car Hire assistance
- Restaurant Reservations
- Major Event Packages
- Family Entertainment
- Photography and Videography recommendations
- DJ and Entertainment recommendations and booking
- Catering
- Customized Invitation Design and Handwritten Thank you cards
- Vacation Home Arrival Preparation
- Vacation Research and Planning
- Get Away Weekend Planning
- Hotel Reservations and Special Occasion Arrangements
- Travel Agent Referrals
- Reward Points Management
- Passport & Visa Preparation
- Vehicle Rental Arrangements
- Household Cleaning Arrangements
- Wait Service: waiting at your home with supervision for the handy man e.g Plumber, Electrician
- Child Care Assistance
- Researching : e.g schools for your kids or a new neighborhood you want to move into etc.
- Assistance with Home purchases and bill payments e.g Gas, Fuel for generator, Internet, Cable TV.
- Periodical House Sitting when you are on vacation.
- Assistance with experienced Maids, Drivers and Nannies.
Below are a few of Concierge services based in Nigeria and services they offer with links to their websites or contacts.
AntsHill Concierge: www.antshillconcierge.com
Services Offered: Lifestyle Management, Personal and Corporate Concierge.
Errand Concierge: www.errandconcierge.com
Services Offered: Personal and Corporate Concierge.
Teleo Messengers Limited: www.teleomessengers.com
Services Offered: Personal Concierge and Property Management.
XL Management Services: www.xlmanagementservices.com
Services Offered: Travel and Tours.
Quintessentially: www.quintessentially.com
Services offered: Lifestyle Management and Personal Concierge
BIL Concierge: www.bilconcierge.com Services offered: Personal and Corporate Concierge
Paula Black: http://paulablackdomestichelp.com
Services offered: Personal Household Staff
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Customer Loyalty and Retention: Keep key customers loyal to you!
I bet you are wondering what this topic has to do with 'the concierge', well you will soon find out.
WHAT IS CUSTOMER LOYALTY? There are a number of definitions of customer loyalty, from www.iclployalty.com, "Customer loyalty can be defined as the totality of feelings or attitudes that would incline a customer to consider the re-purchase of a particular product, service or brand or re-visit a particular company, shop or website. Customer loyalty has always been critical to business success and profitability."
From www.customerservicebasics.com,"Customer loyalty is when an organization receives the ultimate reward for the way it interacts with its customers. Loyal customers buy more, buy longer and tell more people - that's true customer loyalty."
From my favourite website, www.wisegeek.com, "The term customer loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials."
All the definitions above are true and correct, however, how do you keep customers loyal to your service. One of the ways to keep a customer loyal and glued to you is through excellent customer service. Customer loyalty starts with excellent customer service, this is not rocket science!
You may offer great products, services but the manner of offering equally matters. Its quite simple, even if you have the best products in the market but the worst customer service agents, the products will mean nothing to your customers, ever wondered how some companies offer what i call 'glossy' products yet they still grapple with breaking even? It may be they have not grasped the concept of excellent customer service.
How will customers experience the so called great products when the first contact is poor, unprofessional, dispensable and diminishes the brand.
One of the effects of poor customer service and perhaps the most significant is low volume of return customers, customers who will come back no matter what, customers who will do you a favor of word of mouth advertisement for your company, nobody wants to return to a company who does not put their interest in mind,, treats them like a digit, giving them an unwanted feeling and treat them shabbily.
I have had my own fair share of poor customer service, at times i have been vocal about it, expressed my opinion to the customer service personnel and believe me when i say i have not gone back to these places no matter how 'glossy' their next product is, some of these companies has been a bank, an airline, an ISP, a telecoms company...i know there are a lot of folks like me out there who have suffered in the hands of terrible customer agents, imagine what these companies can gain or lose from relating with us.
Still you wonder, how does this have anything to do with the Concierge Service?
A concierge service is highly professional, with incredible services at high value. It is the concierge's priority to pay attention to the littlest of details about a customer, a concierge offers what we call 'the greatest gift'; time.
Think about it for a moment, who would not want to delegate some of their 'to-do' lists just to have some free time. This is what the concierge offers.
With this, a concierge service can help to earn customer loyalty and increase retention, increase of the return customer.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY CONCIERGE:
Through the concierge service you can earn customer loyalty and increase 'return' customers by
- Offering a personal assistant to your key customers. This increases your brand value and thereby keeps your customers to you. The Personal assistant will be at hand to do virtually everything possible for your customer, from booking flights, hotel accommodation, information about your company, assistance to even grocery shopping, dinner reservations, spa reservations and event management.
- Delivering Indispensable service: Your key customers is the number one priority of the concierge. And thus give your customers a wow experience because whenever contacted the concierge is always available.
All these tell on your company image, imagine every call your customer makes, he is greeted by name and assisted with any task or question they ask, note that the concierge is an extension of your company and not a separate entity. Your customer will not even know the difference because, when the call comes in, your company message is heard.
Every call your customer makes will leave them a smile of satisfaction on their face and your company name on their mind, they will even do you a favor and advertise on your behalf, imagine the ripple effect.
The concierge service can create customer loyalty for your company, if caring for your customer is your main concern then consider the concierge service to give the ultimate customer care.
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